FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CALIFORNIA - PAGE 2

MUMBAI: A local court today allowed National Investigation Agency to seek details of the conversations and chats carried out by the alleged ISIS 'recruit' Arif Majeed through the telecommunication apps Skype and Tango. "We want the details of the communication made by Arif in the past six months and the court has given us permission to write to these application companies," said an NIA officer. Skype is headquartered in Luxembourg while Tango is based in California, USA. "The information about his accounts will help us know about the persons with whom he was in touch before leaving for Iraq and during his stay there," said an NIA source.

NEW YORK: A 24-year old Indian immigrant from Kerala, trying to escape an abusive marriage, was killed by her husband, who also shot two other persons injuring them critically at a church in New Jersey. The 27-year old assailant, identified as Joseph "Sanish" Pallipurath, who drove all across the US from California to New Jersey to confront his 24-year old wife Reshma James, escaped after fatally shooting her. Police said he was still potentially dangerous as he possessed the sliver handgun with which he shot the victim.

Beware India, Eastern European nations like Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania and Estonia have been declared the new tech outsourcing leaders of 2005. On the other hand, Singapore, Israel and Sweden, the so-called tech-savvy nations score low as per the assessment made by Brainbench, a global leader in online skills, that asseses job skills and knowledge on a global scale. However, India and Russia still lead the list in total certifications, while California and Texas were the largest overall within the US. The recently held Brainbench contest has shown surprising results that challenged commonly-held views about concentrations of the world's technical talent pools.

For Californians, getting the latest earthquake forecast will now be as easy as checking the weather. They simply have to look on the Internet. Scientists have developed a computer model, available on http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/step/, that gives the probability of damaging tremors occurring in California in the next 24 hours. The map doesn't predict big earthquakes but calculates whether the region will experience tremors severe enough to break windows or crack plaster. The forecasting model will be useful for city managers, people who make decisions about emergency planning, operators of large facilities, as well as members of the public.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in for a second term as the governor of California, the richest and most populous state in the US. The former action movie star and Republican Party maverick hobbled in on crutches to the inauguration ceremony Friday in the state capital Sacramento, due to a recent skiing accident. But his political fortunes in the Democratic-leaning state look healthy as he charts out a centrist path dominated by eco-friendly policies and plans for ambitious healthcare reform.

SAN DIEGO: Munish Batra, a San Diego, Calif.-based plastic surgeon, was among 42 physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and paramedics from the Rancho Bernardo-based Project Compassion who flew to India recently to assist tsunami victims in Ongole, just north of Chennai. "We make our money on cosmetic procedures, then give back to the community with our other work," Batra recently told the San Diego Union Tribune. For Batra, that other work means performing badly needed, highly specialised reconstructive surgeries for the poor--such as reattaching an arm ripped off by a passing car or removing a disfiguring tumor on a person's face.

In today's world of war and conflict, disharmony and mistrust among nations there is a need for professionals who could lead the world through peace and harmony. Efforts to achieve national and international peace continue to be thwarted by war, famine, poverty, and disease around the world. Taking a cue from this scenario the Rotary Foundation has partnered with eight leading universities around the world to establish the Rotary Centres for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution.

CALIFORNIA: If you go there now, it is impossible to tell that 15260 Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks near Los Angeles is an important building. Its 21 glass-covered stories shine blindingly in the California sun, but so do so many others. It houses a branch of the bankrupted Washington Mutual bank ? although the bank retains its name, an A4 purple notice at the entrance says it is now a branch of JP Morgan Chase, the guys who took it over. But that, or the Citibank building where the American flag flies, or the mall across the street do not make the address special.

PARIS: As the financial crisis rages, there is still glamor amid the gloom and not just from the models pouting next to sexy new cars at the Paris Motor Show. On the Ferrari stand, the glamor is red and topless and comes in the form of the new California, a coupe-cabriolet with a retractable hard top. CEO Amedeo Felisa said the car combines the purring, powerful performance of the Ferrari, with features designed for people who want more fun from their high speed car, and will help boost sales to record levels.